The region's MPs today spoke of their horror and sorrow over the rail catastrophe which is feared to have claimed the lives of four Tynesiders.

The region's MPs today spoke of their horror and sorrow over the rail catastrophe which is feared to have claimed the lives of four Tynesiders.

Nick Brown, MP for Newcastle East and Wallsend, said: "I would particularly want to add my own personal expressions of sorrow."

And Joyce Quin, MP for Gateshead East and Gateshead West, said: "We will have had friends and neighbours who were travelling on that train."

Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn said: "A lot of MPs use the train very regularly so we get to know the staff well. They are always very helpful and cheerful and my thoughts are with the families.

"These people would have set off to work without a second thought. It is a terrible tragedy."

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has pledged that an interim report on the crash will be completed in the next few days.

In an emergency statement to the Commons last night, Mr Prescott said that once the Health and Safety Executive had investigated he would make a decision on 'what further steps were appropriate.'

He paid tribute to the emergency services and local people who dealt with the accident: "It is essential that this appalling tragedy is subject to the fullest investigation.

"I am sure that all Members of the House will wish to join me in expressing our deepest sympathy to the injured and the families and friends of those who have lost their lives."

He said he had seen for himself the tremendous efforts of the emergency services and others dealing with the aftermath and praised their true professionalism, courage and efficiency in the most difficult of circumstances.

Mr Prescott also paid tribute to the way the local community responded so quickly with help and comfort to the passengers.

"Like in all these tragedies it is never ever one incident, it is two or three things together that make for the tragedy," he said.

"Who knows when that vehicle came off the road that there was a fast passenger train approaching a freight coal train - a massive amount of weight, well over thousands of tonnes involved - that it would crash into a 125mph passenger train?

"The impact collision there is phenomenal. These are a set of circum

stances that defy belief. if I had come to the House and said that we would get an accident in this particular way, I think most people would have said it is not possible.

"What one learns about tragedies is that the impossible often happens and that's always the difficulty for us in trying to avoid them."

Shadow Transport Minister Bernard Jenkin said Mr Prescott spoke for the whole House when he expressed 'shock and sympathy for the victims and their families'.

"We join with you in sending our sympathies and condolences to the injured and to the bereaved."